Sunday 10 April 2016 11:32, UK
Celtic stretched their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to eight points with a 2-1 victory over spirited Motherwell at Fir Park.
Leigh Griffiths atoned for a penalty miss by taking his tally to 37 goals for the season as he netted either side of a Scott McDonald strike in a thrilling encounter.
Motherwell were looking for a point to secure a top-six finish and they could have made more of an early opportunity when Marvin Johnson raced towards the corner of the 18-yard box and slipped a pass inside to Chris Cadden, but his first-time shot was weak and easily saved by Craig Gordon.
Celtic responded when Stefan Johansen laid a pass out to Mikael Lustig and his deep cross was headed towards the far corner by Griffiths where the ball dropped on to the top of the net with Connor Ripley struggling to deal with the danger.
Ripley then blocked a shot from Patrick Roberts with his foot at the near post and three minutes later the Motherwell 'keeper pushed away Nir Bitton's dipping effort from 25 yards.
The visitors continued to probe and Griffiths tested Ripley from a similar distance with a swerving shot which the stopper could only parry, but there were no takers for the rebound.
Celtic squandered a great chance to open the scoring on 26 minutes when Johnson tripped Roberts as he weaved into the box, but Griffiths dragged the resulting penalty wide of the post seconds later.
And Ripley again thwarted Griffiths with a superb one-handed block at his near post when the striker ran on to Bitton's forward pass as Celtic broke swiftly on a counter-attack.
At the other end McDonald took advantage of a slip by Charlie Mulgrew and slipped a pass to Johnson on the overlap but Scott Brown got across to block his low delivery inside the six-yard box.
Ripley again came to Motherwell's rescue when he blocked a sweeping drive from Colin Kazim-Richards on the six-yard line after Griffiths dummied a cutback from Lustig.
The 'Well goalkeeper then clawed away a dipping net-bound shot from Kieran Tierney and moments later he saved another swerving drive from Roberts as Celtic laid siege around the penalty area.
But the Hoops finally made the breakthrough a minute before the interval when Johansen threaded a pass to Tierney and his low centre was swept home by Griffiths from 10 yards, despite the best efforts of Ripley.
Motherwell had the ball in the net nine minutes after the break when Johnson and Louis Moult combined on the left side of the penalty area and the latter centred for McDonald to tap home, but the striker had strayed offside.
A minute later Ripley turned a fierce drive from Roberts round his near post as the winger danced past Steven Hammell, and the 'keeper denied the same player as he got down the push away another powerful shot.
But McDonald equalised after an hour when Tierney misjudged a forward pass, allowing Moult to get goalside in the box and lay the ball back from the goal-line for the former Celtic striker to blast into the far corner.
Celtic restored their lead 15 minutes from time when Tierney hooked a cross into the box from the left as Motherwell struggled to clear their lines and Griffiths sent a snap-shot which squirmed through Ripley's grasp over the line.
Ripley denied Griffiths once more at his near post with three minutes remaining when the striker nicked the ball off Kieran Kennedy and raced into the box.
The league leaders saw the match out though and are now seven points away from becoming Champions of Scotland for the fifth successive season.
